DC Elects a New Mayor

by David Shephard, ©2026

(Jun. 17, 2026) — I know this may not make me popular with my fellow conservatives, but I thought DC’s outgoing 3-term mayor, Muriel Bowser, wasn’t so bad; indeed, I think one could argue that she was pretty good at her job. True, she is a standard Democrat; that is, she supports the party’s basic woke lefty policies, but in her defense, I’d say that as mayor she didn’t operate with ideological blinders on. She didn’t even seem to govern based on the party’s agenda; rather, she had a realistic view of DC’s problems and tried to deal with them in a pragmatic way. For example, she fought with the DC City Council over their attempt to defund the police, and she fought for more pro-business policies and went up against the unions at times.

A good example of Bowser’s sensible moderation occurred in 2023 when the City Council passed a crime bill, which was designed to reduce penalties for all kinds of crimes. Bowser rightfully vetoed the bill, but her veto was overridden by the Council. The Republican- controlled Congress then stepped in to undo the City Council’s override, and to the surprise of some, President Biden sided with the Republicans and signed their bill.

And over the last two years she successfully worked with the Trump administration to bring down crime in the district. I know this is grading on a curve; but compared to all other big- city mayors she was pretty good. I could argue that she was too good for DC, that is, based on how far left their voters are, they didn’t deserve someone so good.

Now that the election is over, I have a few observations about the campaign, not just for mayor, but also the City Council elections. First thing I noticed is that every candidate attacked Donald Trump, which is odd, considering that no one in decades has done more to clean up DC than Trump. Secondly, I noticed that when the candidates talked about safety, they were talking about non-enforcement of our immigration laws. In other words, according to them, arresting and deporting illegal aliens makes the district less safe. My third point is that every candidate talked about reducing the federal government’s control over the city, seemingly oblivious to the fact that if there was no federal government then there would be no city. DC is not a state, and not a real city – that is, it didn’t come about organically. Instead, the district (not a city) was drawn and planned by the federal government. The district doesn’t produce anything as a state or a city does; some examples are they don’t produce tires, shoes, peaches, soybeans, microchips, rugs or umbrellas; their existence is purely due to the beneficence of the federal Government. Yet all (he, she, they, them) of the candidates seem to think DC should be a state.

Well, yesterday the voters in the District of Columbia cast their ballots for a new mayor, and yet still today we are not sure who won. DC, like California, is slow at counting votes, but so far Janeese Lewis George, a self-described socialist, is holding a large lead and is likely to emerge victorious.

Janeese Lewis George, a life-long DC resident and a member of the City Council, ran on a promise-filled Zohran Mamdani-like platform. She wants to expand rent control; she wants to tax nonresidents who work in DC (a commuter tax). She wants free child-care for all, affordable utilities for all, reliable transportation for all. She wants to expand other kinds of welfare programs and increase housing assistance, all things that cost a lot of money and many of these policies, such as a commuter tax, are counterproductive. On the campaign trail she said that she believes in “Sewer socialism” by which she means a socialism that gets things done. DC has real problems, and it needs leaders who are practical and full of common sense. Socialism has never worked anywhere, and this latest variant, called “sewer socialism,” is just as likely to fail.

The federal government is ultimately in control of DC and can step in if the new mayor is a total disaster. Just how bad of a mayor will George be, I am not sure, but my guess is that in a few years’ time we will look back at the Bowser terms in office as a golden age for DC.

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David Shephard is a native and very proud Virginian.  Raised in Fairfax County, David graduated from George Mason University and majored in Government and Politics. He spent decades in politics, campaign consulting, raising money and lobbying.  He is also a longtime conservative blogger writing for numerous blogs.  He is also the host of “The Virginia Gentleman Podcast.”

David is the author of Elections Have Consequences, A Cautionary Tale, and his latest book, Norton’s Choice: An Inside Politics Exposé.